Greggs staff strip for charity Children in Need

29-Oct-2012 - Last updated on 29-Oct-2012 at 11:04 GMT

Gregg's staff stripped for Children in Need

Staff at Britain’s biggest high street baker Greggs have stripped for a charity calendar in support of the BBC appeal Children in Need.

Women workers at the Greggs’ branch in Low Fell, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear have bared all in a bid to raise tens of thousands of pounds for the charity.

The calendar stars – aged from 18 to 64 ‒ were led by assistant branch manager Kelly Gilmour. After earning the most money for charity on two previous company fund-raising occasions, Gilmour decided her team needed to do something special this year.

Glasses of wine

“We were really nervous about doing the pictures,” Gilmour, aged 32, told the local newspaper The Chronicle. “But a couple of glasses of wine helped and it was really good fun in the end.”

The discrete images feature the women posing, in one case, with a strategically placed umbrella, in another, with a bikini made of ice biscuits and, a third, behind some Belgian Buns.

“I think it is really tastefully done,” said Gilmour. “Customers may look at their Belgian Buns in a different way now, though!”

The calendar will be available from Greggs’ stores priced at £5.

The Greggs plan was inspired by the 2003 comedy film Calendar Girls starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters. The film is based on the true story of a group of Yorkshire women who produced a nude calendar to raise money for Leukaemia Research in April 1999.

Sir Terry Wogan

Meanwhile, Children in Need presenter Sir Terry Wogan will host a live concert today (October 28) at London’s Savoy Theatre to raise more money for the charity. Performing live on stage will be Dionne Warwick, The Overtones, Matt Cardle, James Rmé, and Melanie C and Emma Bunton of the Spice Girls.

Last year’s concert and lunch contributed to the £2,032,642 raised by Radio 2 listeners for the Children in Need appeal.

This year’s televised Children in Need appeal will take place on Friday November 16.

Wogan said on a BBC blog: “We hope it will be another record-breaking total for the people’s charity. Every year of BBC Children in Need is a shining tribute to the extraordinary generosity of the British people."

Children in Need ‒ in numbers

1955 ‒ First televised appeal, the 'Children's Hour Christmas Appeal', presented by Sooty and Harry Corbett.

1978 ‒ Terry Wogan makes his first appearance presenting the appeal.

1995 ‒ Pudsey Bear adopted as the charity’s mascot

£600M ‒ the amount raised, so far, by Children in Need.